Booth Creek Falls Trail

Yep - the tradition continues.  This week's Monday Night Hike was to Booth Creek Falls in Vail.  We realized that this canyon was the one we could see from the freeway last fall that was just bursting with color - so I'm pretty excited to try it again in the fall.

The stats:

Date hiked: 25 June 2012

Start time: 5:35 pm

Rest/eat time: 20 minutes

Back to car: 7:50 pm

Total round trip time: 2 hr 15 min (I'm noticing a trend here . . .)

Total mileage: 4 miles (according to the book), 3.84 (according to my gps)

High point: ~9800 feet

And, of course, some photos:

Squaw Creek Trail {Summertime Version}

Another episode of our Monday Night Hikin' series, this trail was the same one we tried out on snowshoes on Christmas Eve.  This time was a lot greener, and flowerier, and definitely dustier at the beginning.  And we got a lot further down the trail.  Still not sure if where we ended up for our picnic dinner was the actual "large open meadow called Elk Park" but it was "a wonderful spot for looking at a variety of wildflowers including scarlet gilia, lupine, geranium and indian and sulphur paintbrush" so I think we were on the right track.  Fun trail, fun company, fun evening.

Here's our stats:
Date hiked: 18 June 2012
Start time: ~5:45 pm
Rest/eat time: ~20 min
Back to car: 8:00 pm
Total round trip: 2 hr 15 min
Total mileage: ~4.86 (according to my GPS - hopefully it's accurate)
High point: ~9100 feet

And some pics:

Monday Night Hikin' - East Lake Creek Trail

For FHE this week, we decided to finally try out a nearby trail that we've started up numerous times (it's the same one we take all our guests to see at the end of the Lake Creek drive - the East Lake Creek Trail).  It was the perfect evening for it, cool and shady, but with just enough gorgeous golden light to see us through.  About two miles in, we found a nice little rocky seat and had our picnic dinner.  Then we packed up and hiked back out.  All done in a little over a couple hours.  Perfect evening with my dishy husband in the mountains.

The stats:
Date hiked: 11 June 2012
Start time: 5:30 pm
Rest/eat time: 30 min
Back to car: 7:45 pm
Total round trip: 2 hr 15 min
Total mileage: ~4 (according to the The Vail Hiker)
High point: 9000 feet

Yeah, I think I could live there.

Two tough mountain ducks were swimming about in this pond.

A Weekend with the Wihongis

We had the great privilege of hosting Heather and her boys for the weekend of June 7-10.  It was so fun to have Kage and Dray running around and telling us the time every fifteen minutes and beating us at Uno and giving us the excuse to finally swim in our complex's pool.  And we got to try out some of the awesome playgrounds in our area.  This one was at Nottingham Park in Avon that we visited on Friday:

There's a lake at this park and I think Dray figured that it needed a few more rocks thrown in it.  He was happy to oblige.

He sure did love the splashes!

Kage found a swarm of tadpoles near the shore.

"That mommy duck sure is hungry"
Dray and Kage helped her out by tossing her
some graham cracker pieces.

After the park we spent the rest of the afternoon splashing in the pool.  Dray was thrilled that there was a pool just his size, and Heather and I were thrilled that it was just the right temperature - not too hot and not too cold.  Kage splashed and swam between the big, cool pool, the small, hot tub, and the medium warm pool.  (I felt like we were in Goldilocks and the Three Bears.)

Tired boys.  (And momma.)

After dinner at Larkburger, we strolled along the Riverwalk and took a drive up Lake Creek, where we found ourselves at the trailhead and the boys were begging to get out and hike.  You don't have to ask me twice!

Colorado Columbine in the wild!

Lovely evening.

Mr. Cheese.  Ha!

Lovely golden light.

They were awesome hikers - next year we'll
have to go a lot further since the little jaunt
up the hill didn't seem to quite satisfy Kage.

On Saturday we packed up a lunch and headed to Vail.  Our first stop was Ford Park, which had an awesome Tarzan's Treehouse-esque playground for the kids (and their mom and aunt and uncle).

Kage and the summer Ptarmigan - red to blend
in with the rocks and mountains.  (There's also
a white statue in the park representing the
winter version of plumage.)

Happy family at the Betty Ford Alpine Gardens

Next, we checked out the skiing facilities.  Of course there was a lift chair photo op.  And a little indoctrination by Uncle Gregg on the marvels of snowmaking.

After a lovely picnic lunch by the river, Dray and Kage made good use of the nearby rocks and practiced their baseball throws into the creek.

Last stop was playground #4 (though only three were photographed and documented here) for the trip: Pirate Park!  Built to look like a pirate ship, this playground had the works: the helm, the crow's nest, a life boat, and even a plank (though Gregg says it's not actually the plank - what do I know about pirate ships?).

After wearing out the boys (alright, alright, it was the adults who were most tired) at the playgrounds, and a little shirt shopping in the village (hoodies for $15?  Yes!), we headed back to Edwards where the boys and Heather splashed about in the pool, Gregg prepared his lesson for church the next day, and I took a nap and made pizza for dinner.  Fun, fun weekend!  Let's do it again!  (And now we need to figure out how to get the nieces and their parents out here for a visit!)  As Dray said just about everywhere* we stopped, "I love this place!"

*I remember specifically hearing him say this on our walk by the river next to our apartment their first night here, at Nottingham Park, and inside the parking garage at Vail.  :)